Home to Wonderland
by Malinanas
Summary: What I wanted to happen after the movie was over. A little bit about Alice's years in England but also about her final return to Wonderland. It might turn out a bit strange, but isn't that what Wonderlands all about? ;)
1. Chapter 1

At first, Alice's time at the company had been great and lord Ascot had been very nice to her even though she hadn't agreed to marry his son Hamish. She wished she could say the same about his wife, lady Ascot, but sadly enough, lady Ascot had all but banned Alice from their mansion. She was only allowed there when she was to attend buisness meetings or to discuss the company and the only times she ever saw Hamish was if they happened to meet in the hallways and if that was the case, they didn't say a word to one another. Not that Alice minded that, she had never cared much for Hamish, he was far too strict and uptight and just... no fun. Just like his mother.

Alice's mother on the other hand was overjoyed at the moment. Alice's older sister Margaret and her husband Lowell had just had their first child, a son called Peter. Alice liked him very much, although she was happy that Margaret and Lowell had their own house so she didn't have to listen to Peters' screaming all nights. Unfortunately, Alice still lived with her mother, not that she didn't love her mother, it was just that she would like to be a bit more independent. But rules are rules, she couldn't get a house of her own unless she married and that was not likely to happen anytime soon, because Alice never liked any of the men who would come to court her. It had been two years now and the line of suiters finally seemed to be shrinking. Finally according to Alice, not to her mother who would get upset just by thinking of Alice's refusal of marriage.

Today, there was no reason for Alice to think about her mother, her nephew, her sister and absolutely not about getting married because today she was out riding through the woods. All by herself, not even a chaperon. Now that felt independent. With no risk of meeting anyone this far out in the forrest, Alice hadn't bothered to put on a corset or her stockings for that matter. She didn't like to wear them and the horse certainly didn't care if she was wearing stockings or not. After a while she came across a pond and she decided to stop to let the horse drink, and as it did she looked around. She couldn't shake the strange feeling of her having been there before. Slowly she slided out of the saddle and down on the ground. In front of her feet she could see a thin path, one that she hadn't noticed before. Out of curiosity, she began to follow it, after all, what ever lied on the other end of it could hardly be worse than a Jabberwocky and she had faced one of those.

The path led on a path of stones across the pond and continued inside a peculiar hole in the ground. Being who she was, Alice couldn't resist but to crawl on all four inside the tunnle, even if that meant getting her dress muddy. As she came further and further in she wondered where it would lead her and then, like someone turning on a light, she remebered exactly where she was. When she realized this, she had her hand in the air, ready to got further and so she quickly put it down so she could back out. Only, there was no ground. 'Oh no...' Alice thought to herself in the moment where her entire body slipped down the hole along with her hand.

She landed roughly on the checkerd floor in the hall with all the doors. With a sigh and some effort she stood up and brushed the worst of the dirt from her dress.

"There better be a key and some Pishalver on that table or I don't know what I'll do."

Alice turned out to be right too. There was a key on the table, along with a small bottle of what she thought was Pishalver, although she couldn't be sure because there was no 'drink me' sign or anything like that. But since there was nothing else to do, Alice picked up the key and drank the liquid just to find that she within a few seconds were of perfect size to go through the door. She was just about to do that, walk through the door, when she remembered that even as she got out there, she would be smaller than everybody else so she'd better take the Upelkuchen cake as well. Alice ran back for the cake lying beneth the tabel and then hurried through the door.

When she came out on the other side, everything seemed the same, but still something had changed. The gate wasn't rusty anymore, all the weed was gone and the flowers seemed to be singing again, just like they did when she was little. With a smile she couldn't help, Alice took a small bite of the Upelkuchen and got right back to normal size before she walked in to Wonderland. She stopped by the flowers and listened for a while before she bent down to them.

"I love your singing ladies."

"Thank you girl, I can't tell you how long it's been since... Well bless my petals! It's Alice!"

All the flowers turned around to look at Alice, but she had already continued her walk and although she could her the upset flowers calling her name and demanding her to return she didn't. There were more people she needed to see.

Absolem wasn't sitting on his mushroom, but she knew why. He had become a butterfly and was no longer a part of Wonderland. So she continued down the road until she came to the tree bearing the signs 'snud' and 'queast'. It was no longer dead, but filled with tiny green leaves and even smaller pink flowers. She really liked it, somehow it felt like home, at least to Alice.


	2. Chapter 2

The forrest was just as strange and peculiar as always, only, it wasn't as scary without all the mist and while the sun was up. Chessur didn't find her as he always did, so she assumed that he was away doing something he found fun, tricking a child perhaps. Alice smiled at the memory of the first time she met him and she had strictly said that she didn't want to see anyone who was mad. He had simply replied that what she asked was impossible since everyone here was mad. Although, Alice had come to realize that they weren't mad, at least not the kind of mad Alice had thought he meant.

After a while, at least she met Bayard, walking down the path while dusting it with his tail, quickly followed by a younger dog. One of his pups, Alice assumed and started walking towards them.

"Bayard!"

"Could it really be... Alice!"

Bayard ran upp to her and sat down by her feet. She bent down to pet him and talk to him while looking him in the eye.

"How have you been Bayard? How's your family?"

"They're just fine, as you can see, this is one pf my pups, Rocket. He's come with me today to help clean the paths."

"That's wonderful! I was just headed to the Hatters', would you like to come?"

"Oh that will make him very happy, and maybe the Clock will start ticking again if you do... And we would love to come, but there's more work to do so maybe another time."

"Alright, well I'll see you around Bayard."

"I'll see you around Alice."

Bayard and Rocket continued their way down the path and Alice walked down hers, but she couldn't help but wondering. If the Clock would start ticking again if she went to see the hatter, had she offended it? The last time she offended Time it resulted in the Hatter, the March Hare and Mallykun having to drink tea all the time, everyday for thirteen years since it was always tea-time. Worried about what she might have done, Alice held up her skirts a bit and started running down the path until she came to the road signs pointing in all different directions. This was the first time she had to find the Hatters' home herself and she thought it best to follow the signs, although, nothing in Wonderland was ever what it appeard to be so she might as well end upp att the Chessboard. Luckily, she didn't. After a while of running through the peculiar forrest, she reached a large, green hedge and at first, she thought the way stopped there, but when she looked down there was a door, just big enough for her being able to crawl through, without any Pishalver, thankfully.

When on the other side, Alice could all but smell the tea and hear the singing not too far away. This made her very happy so once again, she started to run. The hat that she had worn while riding had fallen off when she went down the hole and now the needels holding up her hair started falling out as well, which was nice since they had been pushing right into her head. By the time she got to the gate into the Hatters garden all of her hair had fallen out and was falling down her back in soft curles. She peeked through a hole in the gate to make sure it was the Hatter sitting in there although she could hear his voice clearer than any other. And just as she thought, in there the three little loonatics that she loved so very much sat happily drinking tea and singing songs just as happy. She walked through the gate and closed it behind her just in time for the song to end and then applauded them energeticly. Immediately they looked at her and at first she thought they would be angry with her, but they just sat there, completely silent and that made her even more nervous. Until the hatter smiled at her.

"Alice."

He slowly stood up from his chair with the dormouse and March Hare closely watching him, maybe they thought he was going to do something bad.

"Is it really you?"

He looked very suspicious of her, but she didn't care. Instead she just ran towards him and hugged him very tightly befor he could say anything.

"Oh Tarrant!"

Alice had barely ever pronounced the Hatters real name, but now felt like a good time and it was apparently just what he needed to hear in order to trust her because as soon as he relaxed, he hugged her back, just as tight. Then suddently, he let her go and grabbed her hand instead and walked her over to the chair he usually would have her sitting on, the one at his right.

"You're just in time! Or not, but still you are. You said that you'd be back before I'd know it and well, you see when it was time for you to come and you didn't, Time stopped ticking at once since he has grown rather impatient with you always being late. Naughty."

He talked fast, as he always did when he was excited and Alice just smiled and poured herself some tea while she was listening to him talking about how the life in Wonderland was at the time. Tarrant talked about everything and everyone that had changed or done something that caused something else to change and Alice gladely listined to her friend sitting there whilst going on and on about his home. The March Hare threw some scones up in her face when she asked for them, but she didn't mind since she had gotten used to his bizarre fondness of throwing things around. Mallykun simply handed her a knife with butter on that she gladly took to butter her scone. Now they sat there, four instead of three, drinking tea, having fun and a very good time for that matter.


	3. Chapter 3

It was rather curious, the Hatter, or Tarrant as he was actually called, hadn't changed a day and neither had the March hare or Mallymkun, but when she saw Bayard earlier, he had aged just as much as she had and if not his pup certainly had. When Alice asked Tarrant about it he simply answered that time had gotten angry with her and therefore stopped, and how could anyone age if time stood still? In a way, his words made sense, but still they didn't. Time couldn't stand still at one particular place and still be going at another, that was impossible! Just as she said that out loud, all three of her friends looked at her as if she was the strange one and then she realized she was! I believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast, that's what she'd said the last time she was here and she would most likely do well in remembering it.

After a while of sitting there talking, a ticking noise was heard and they soon discovered that Time had started going again. Neither of Mallymkun, Tarrant or the March hare had heard that sound in quite a while, maybe not in a year and a half or so if Alice would guess and at first, they all got rather excited. Of course, they didn't know how long it had been and maybe even more important, they didn't really care. When all of them had calmed down, they spent what remained of the evening singing and talking about their lives and soon, it was evening (something they were also very excited about). Apparently, neither of them had slept since the last time it was night. A little voice in Alice's head wanted to say that it was impossible, that everyone needed to sleep, but she shook it off and focused on her friends in stead. Soon the sun had gone down beneath the Hatter's house and Tarrant stood upp very suddetly.

"Well I believe that we must part now! I don't want anyone to ruin my good sleep, or bad for that matter, or anything inbetween. So away, away! Good night, good sleep I'll see you all tomorrow!"

Mallymkun and the hare quickly gathered their affects and took off, but Alice, having nowhere to go stayed put. Tarrant looked at her very confused.

"Why aren't you going home Alice?"

"I don't have a home in Wonderland Tarrant, don't tell me you forgot?"

Obviously he had forgot that Alice did not own a house of her own in Wonderland, he had always taken her for granted in a way. Counting on her to be there, almost as much as Mallymkun and the hare and everyone else, it seemed that it was only now he realized that she didn't actually live here. Then suddently, he went from very silent in his own mind to a broad smile.

"Well of course you do silly, you live here!"

"You mean I can stay with you?"

"I don't see why you wouldn't. Come on, I'll show you to your room."

With fast steps he started walking towards his house that when you thought about it, was also a mill. Or at least it had spokes and a dome-like shaped roof. When Alice stepped into the house she realized that she had never actually been inside Tarrants house before, but she didn't tell him that. Instead she just followed him around into the kitchen where everything was a mess and then up the stairs and to a small room with a view of the tea-table outside. Tarrant looked at her hopefully.

"Do you like it?"

"It's perfect."

She said it with a smile and she could tell he got really happy about her liking his house, or a room in his house at least. Then he said a few words that didn't quite make sense and most likely didn't matter that much before he said goodnight and left her alone. When he had left her, Alice looked around for a moment and when she saw the bed, she remembered that she didn't have any nightgowns. In one of the corners there was a big wardrobe so she walked over to it to see if there was anything that she could wear. Inside the closet, there wasn't much clothing to choose from, eventually Alice settled down with a white shirt that she assumed beloned to Tarrant and guessed she could borrow. After slipping out of her dress and carefully hanging it in the wardrobe she laid down under the covers of the bed in her borrowed shirt. The sheets were cold, probably because the window was slightly opened and no one had slept in the room for at least a month judging by the thin coat of dust covering almost everything in the room. Still, Alice didn't really care about the dust, mostly because she was tired and soon fell deep asleep covered in the blue sheets.

The following morning, Alice woke up of the sun, shining straight into her room and hitting her eyes right on. She felt a bit numb, most likely because of the event full day she'd had yesterday. It took a bit of an effort to get out of bed and into the dress she wore yesterday, but at least she didn't have to bother with the "proper" underwear. Since she couldn't see a hairbrush anywhere, Alice didn't bother to look in the mirror either, if she looked awful she did certainly not want to know that. Besides, she doubted Tarrant even had a hairbrush, you'd think he'd use it if that was the case, which he undoubtfully was not. So Alice simply sneaked out of her room since she wasn't sure if Tarrant had woken up yet, and if that was the case she did certainly not want to wake him up. He would just say she was rude or naughty and she did not need that. Again. He always said that to her when she was here, but he always did it with a smile so she wasn't sure if he was really upset or not... Suddently she heard a loud sound downstairs so Alice hurried down.


	4. Chapter 4

When Alice came downstairs, the sound she had gotten so worried about simply turned out to be the March Hare and Tarrant making breakfast in their own special way. It was obvious that they hadn't done it in a while and now they couldn't remember how to do it. That's why the hare was here so early, at least that's what they told her and she didn't question them, although she wondered where Mallymkun was. He had to be around here somewhere, he never left the Hatters and the Hares sides! So while Tarrant tried to figure out how to turn on the stove, Alice walked around in the kitchen looking for the little mouse with the big attitude. Just as Tarrant remembered how to cook the eggs, Alice remembered where Mallymkun usually slept, so she turned around and walked over to the first teapot she saw. When she lifted the lid, she quickly found out that she had been right, Mallymkun was sleeping at the bottom of the pot, holding his tail in his hands. Alice smiled and thought about how cute he actually was, even if she must never say that when he's awake because he would get really angry, she always kept the thought in the back of her mind.

"Teapot! Give me the teapot Alice!"

Tarrant shouted behind her and she realized he meant the teapot that Mallymkun was sleeping in, but she didn't have time to protest, she only had time to pick the mouse up before the hare came and grabbed the pot only to throw it over to Tarrant who caught it in the air.

"Thank you!"

Alice wasn't sure who Tarrant was thanking, her or the hare, but Mallymkun certainly didn't thank her for waking him up. He quickly stood up in her palm and shouted, very upset, about how rude it was of her to wake him from the only sleep he had gotten in eighteen months. It was rude, Alice didn't need him to tell her that, but she didn't protest, instead she simply put him down on the messy kitchen table and apologized.

During the breakfast Tarrant explained that they simply must head to the White Queen and tell her about Alices arrival to Wonderland. Then they could also look at the Oraculum to see how long and why she was here. He was very enthusiastic and Alice really wanted to see Mirana again, almost as much as she didn't want to lower Tarrants mood so she agreed although she did point out that her dress was not very pretty after falling down a hole. Tarrant took a look at her and then agreed and so the March Hare and Mallymkun went on ahead, Tarrant sewed her a new dress and Alice made the dishes since no one seemed to have been doing that lately. Even though the Hatter finished her dress surprisingly fast, Alice still had time to clean all of the dishes, sweep the floor and even dust the shelves somewhat. Not that Tarrant really noticed, he was so excited about the dress and visiting the Queen that he didn't seem to notice anything at all really, not even that both the hare and Mally were gone. So Alice went up to her room and tried on the very pretty lavender dress. It was a perfect fit, and she wasn't surprised at all. He hadn't taken any measures, still he knew just how big to make it. If that was because they'd know eachother for such a long time or because he simply was extremely skilled she didn't know.

When she came downstairs once more Tarrant looked at her with a smile.

"I like it! Hope you like it! You look great! I mean it's great that the dress fits and that it suits you and..."

"Tarrant! I love it, thank you."

Over the years, Alice had learnt how to calm him down when he didn't seem to be able to, either because he was too excited or too angry. Now he seemed thankful, even though he didn't express it and smiled at her. Then he handed her his arm so that she could hold it while they walked, always being a gentleman. Alice gladely took it and they walked out the door together.

It felt good not to walk through the forest alone for once, seeing as she almost always got lost. The fact that she even found her way to the Hatter's house yesterday was a miracle, even if she just followed the signs pointing to 'the Mad Hatter'. It was a bit mean that they called Tarrant mad, he was a bit peculiar and strange, but he certainly wasn't mad. Far from it, he always had a special thought to everything he said, it was just hard for others to see it most of the times. It was even a bit difficult for herself, but she had learned not to be bothered by that and simply love him for who he was. He hadn't said much since they left the house, which wasn't like him, but he seemed to have sunken deep into his own thoughts and it didn't bother Alice. She just walked alongside him, admiring the unusual trees and plants growing in this forrest. After all, she didn't know when she would be going home and therefore, she also didn't know how much time she had to apprechiate Wonderland.

After walking for quite some time, they arrived at the pond across which Tarrant had thrown his hat with her on it when they were being chased by red knights. He didn't seem to notice, maybe he didn't remember? Or perhaps he just didn't care at the moment. He simply walked around it and was about to continue walking across the plains on the other side when Alice suddnetly stopped.

"Tarrant... what's become of Salazen Grum?"

Alice looked out from the cliff they where currently standing on and across the desert that followed. In the distance she could spot a few towers, but the rest of the castle appeared to be missing. Tarrant looked up next to her, waking up from his thoughts.

"The White Queen emptied the moat and had a great burial for the people whos' heads were laying there, after she filled it with water blue as the sky. The execution ring and all of the dungeons was removed and replaced with a wine cellar and a garden. The castle is now a home for the ones who don't have a home."

"That's wonderful..."

"Is it? So many deaths... so many lives..."

He had a point. Coud one really ignore that much misery and death of a place just because it's not there to be seen anymore?


	5. Chapter 5

Walking to Marmoreal went much slower than riding the Bandersnatch, well longer than Alice had expected at least and now her feet was starting to ache. Tarrant didn't seem to be minding this though, after looking out over Salazen Grum he had walked silent for a little bit before he started talking and he hadn't stopped yet, even though at least two hours had gone. He was telling her about how much better a ruler Mirana was than her sister, telling her that everything in Wonderland had gone back to it's former grace and beauty, if not even more beautiful than before.

"Ah! See here!"

He stopped by the edge of the road to pick up a little white flower that was growing amongst an entire sea of flowers covering the plain.

"Isn't it lovley?"

"Yes it is."

Alice smiled at her friend who stood there with a happy grin on his face until he a little bit awkwardly put the flower in her hair, right behind her ear. Then he smiled even more, a bit embarrased perhaps? Before he looked down on the ground an continued walking, this time he didn't speak again before Palace Marmoreal was within sight.

Marmoreal was as big, bright and beautiful as always, which wasn't very strange since it was huge and built in pure marble. Bayards wife along with her pups greated them at the gate and ran on ahead to tell the Queen of their arrival. Alice what a bit nervous about seeing Mirana again if she was to be completely honest, but Tarrant walked closely by her side and when she looked up at him he smiled reasuringly. That calmed her down a bit. The last time she was here it was to bring Mirana the Vorpal Sword and then her task had been so obvious and containing pretty much all of her thoughts so she didn't really have the time to feel nervous, but she did now. Still, when the doors opened into the great hall, all of that went away. The people of Mirana's court smiled at her, varm, comforting smiles, just like Mirana herself did although she was sitting up on her throne. When Alice and Tarrant came close enough though she ran up and down the stairs to hug them both. Then she stepped back and looked at them with a happy smile.

"Oh Alice! I can't say how happy I am to see you back here in Wonderland! Thank you Tarrant for bringing her here, I have so much to tell you about how things in Wonderland are now!"

"Well there can't be much left that Tarrant hasn't told me already."

"Pity... Well I suppose we'll find something else to talk about, like how you got this pretty little flower in your hair."

"Oh, Tarrant gave it to me."

"You don't say..."

Mirana suddently got a very special look in her eyes that was difficult for Alice to read, she had barely ever seen it before. Only on Margaret at that made up engagement party that Alice left all on her own, completely unengaged. Although she wondered why Mirana looked at her like that now, it wasn't like she knew something that they didn't, did she? Tarrant didn't seem to notice the strange look in his queens eyes, instead he just spoke his mind like always.

"We would like to see the Oraculum, my queen, to see what the purpose of Alice being her this time is."

"My dear friend, I'm afraid I have to deny that request. At least for a little while, I have already seen the Oraculums purpose for Alice this time and I would like to see it get certain myself before you get to see it.

The disappointment in the Hatter's eyes shined through and he didn't try to hold it back, but he didn't oppose his queen either. Instead he just accepted what she'd told him.

"Yes my queen."

"But please, let me make it up to you so that you haven't come this far for nothing. Stay here tonight and have dinner with me and my court, it would bring me the greatest joy."

"We'd be delighted to."

Tarrant seemed to have lost his ability to speak -again- so Alice just chimed in and answered in his place, for which she received another smile before they followed the queen upstairs.

Mirana walked quickly through her castle, although she obviously wasn't in a hurry, it was probably just that she knew this place like the back of her hand and there was nothing to hold her back. The few people they met in the hallways just gave her a polite bow or a nod whilst the Queen herself walked on. After a while they stopped in a hallway that was only lit up by a few torches on the wall that burned with blue fire. The floor was white and grey checkerd and right in the middle there was a blue, velvet carpet. So it all pretty much looked like every other hallway that they had walked through this evening.

"Here are your rooms, I do hope you like them. Now I will leave you to get washed up before dinner. It's at seven, in the dining hall."

Mirana had just started taking a few steps away form them when she suddently stopped and turned around.

"Oh, and the rooms share the same balcony, I hope you don't mind?"

"Not at all."

When Alice answered Mirana she had already begun to walk again and Alice wondered why she had asked if she did not care about their answers? Maybe it was just a way to tell them so that no one would be surprised when the other door on the balcony lead into the others room. Yes, that was probably the reason, but then why wouldn't she just say that the rooms shared a balcony, why would she ask if they minded it? There were so many questions that popped into Alices head, but she didn't feel like thinking about them. Instead she agreed with the Hatter on meeting outside of the rooms right before seven and then they left to go rest up after the long walk that they'd had.


	6. Chapter 6

Having dinner with the queen and her court was nice, but not as nice as Alice had thought it would be. It was really stiff, most of the conversation were compliments on the food or something about how happy the trees in the garden seemed. Even though she didn't say it out loud, Alice definately prefered dinner and tea at the Hatter's house where everything was always so loud and somebody was always singing or telling an interesting story which half of made no sense at all but nobody cared about that. After a while she even found herself wishing she could leave and immediatley felt a bit guilty for not fully enjoying Miranas hospitality. Although she wasn't the only one. Tarrant was sitting at the end of the table, a few seats away, picking in his food with a fork as a child that isn't hungry but has still been told not to leave the table until he's finished. Alice laughed at the thought until it reminded her of her nephew and she realized, she actually missed the little guy a bit. That really made her sad, because as the thought developed, she remembered that there was no way for her to get home, well at least none that she knew of. Those thoughts occupied her mind for the rest of the dinner, but none of the people at the court seemed to notice her sadness. They were all too busy discussing the new flowers that had been planted in the garden recently, white roses. What a surprise. Why couldn't they be yellow for a change? She had really grown tired of the whole "white this" and "red that" thing.

* * *

By the time Alice finally got up to her room and crawled into bed she was completely exhausted. This day she had walked for so many hours only to spend almost as many hours sitting by a table, pretending to be in a good mood and thinking of everything as delightful. Now all she wanted to do was sleep, but the bed was far to uncomfortable to be allowed in a castle and it didn't exactly help her relax. So after a while of tossing and turning, Alice got up and put on a robe before going out on the balcony. To her surprise, Tarrant stood out there as well. When he realised he was there, he quickly turned around, looking just a little bit startled."

"Alice. What are you doing out here?"

"I couldn't sleep. What's your excuse?"

"It's pretty difficult to sleep when you haven't done it in two years. Especially with so many things occupying your mind."

"What sort of things?"

Alice took a few steps over to him and leaned against the fence that stopped her from falling a very long fall down. He seemed so... little. As if he had lost something and recently found it but didn't remember what he was supposed to do with it. He looked down at her with his green eyes for a while before he spoke.

"Why, Alice? Why are you here? How did you get here?"

If it was one thing that she didn't expect it was that she was what was occupying his mind at night. It took her a few seconds to get over that and then she had to think of a good answer for him, but couldn't find one.

"I don't know Tarrant. I... I fell, down a whole by a pond where I used to have my reading lessons as a child. It was the same place where I fell down the first time I came here. When I was six."

"Peculiar... but not surprising."

"What do you mean?"

"Alice, that is one of the few ways into Wonderland and..."

"And what? Tarrant please, tell me! It might help me to get back home!"

"Well that's the thing. That way is only open for people whos' heart belong in Wonderland. Alice, this is your home now, you're not going back."

"No! I don't believe you! I... I have to see my mother and... my nephew and Margret... Tarrant! Tell me there's a way for me to get back home!"

"Well, then I'd be lying and personally I find lying very rude."

Alice couldn't believe her ears. There had to be some way for her to get back home to her mother and her sister and well even Lowell! Even Hamish and his mother would be a welcome sight at this moment! Or maybe not a welcome sight but at least it would calm her down to see their smug faces, to realize this was all just a very realistic dream. But she knew it wasn't. Tarrant was standing right there in front of her and he was telling the truth, just as she would expect him to do. He really looked and seemed awfully sorry for her and a small part of her wanted to tell him that it wasn't his fault, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was panicing and had no reason not to show it exept for the one that she didn't want him, or anyone else, to see her that vulnerable so before the tears started to rush down her face she turned around and ran into her room, locking the door. She even pulled out the curtains so that no one would see her and then rushed to the uncomfortable bed whichs firm surface actually felt quite comforting when the thoughts rushed through her head. She would never hear her mother say something comforting again, or see her sister smile. She would never hold Peter in her arms and hear him giggle of the delight of playing with her hair. Instead she was stuck here in Wonderland for the rest of her life with the stiff white court and her mad friends that she still loved, but it sure didn't feel like home. It just felt awful. There was no other word for the way she felt.


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days went by in a sort of blur. Alice didn't say much and no one really talked to her, probably because they could sense they wouldn't get much of an answer and if they did it wouldn't be a very nice one. Still, Tarrant took Alice back to his home since she didn't have one of her own yet and calmly told her that she could stay as long as she liked. A small part of him had wished she would smile at him when he said that and maybe say thank you but instead she just gave him a slight nod and sat went up to her room, leaving him alone in the garden. The March Hare and Mallymkun didn't come over for tea as they usually did, instead Tarrant went over to the Hare's hole since they wanted tea but still didn't want to disturb Alice. An entire week past before Alice finally came downstairs, fully dressed and quite normal looking without it being dinner time. The Hatter looked at her a little surprised.

"Alice. Are you feeling better?"

She looked at him with a look in her eyes that clearly stated she didn't, but she didn't feel like talking about that so she just went on with what she was going to say.

"Actually I've been thinking. If I am to stay in Wonderland I will need a house of my own, so today I thought I might go looking for one. You're welcome to come if you want to."

"If I want? Oh I'd be delighted to! You know there are so many places that are just plain empty since the Red Queens reign seeing as those who used to lived there are..."

Tarrant stopped in the middle of his sentence when he realized what he was about to say. He didn't like talking about Iracebeths' reign and he hated talking about all the people that she had killed during it. Alice understood him, she thought it was horrible to so she just took his hand and smiled carefully, squeezed it a little.

"Let's go then."

The Hatter certainly hadn't been lying when he said that there were many empty houses, the lot of them never seemed to end. Alice soon came to realize that if she were to pick a house, she ought to do it soon, otherwise she would soon forget the ones that they had already been looking at. A few look-arounds later, she picked a purple house that had been one of the first houses they had looked at. It wasn't too far from the Hatters', but still far enough for some personal space. The house itself was light purple, with a odd green roof and white windows with matching green shutters. One side had a balcony peeking out of ivory that covered pretty much the entire wall and right my the front door (that was also green) there grew a few rose bushes, filled with white roses. All together it looked adorable and the inside wasn't too bad either, a bathroom, a kitchen, a small livingroom and two bedrooms which was good in case she had any guests. There was dust all over and Alice knew that it would take a while to clean out. Not that it mattered. She had all the time in the world now that it appeared as though she'd be staying in Wonderland. So after having the first cup of tea that had been made in that house in a very long time with Tarrant, Alice politely asked him to leave so she could get on with what needed to be done.

It wasn't very easy to clean up her new house, mostly because she had never cleaned her house before. Since she had grown up in a wealthy family, there had always been servants around to do all things like cooking and cleaning. Alice herself didn't have a single clue on how to run a household. Now she looked around in her own house and wondered where she ought to start cleaning. Then she remembered the time she had asked Chessur which way she ought to go and he had simply replied that it completely depended on where she wanted to get to. When she had sid it didn't matter he had said that then it didn't matter which way she took. This was sort of the same thing, the only goal she had was to get the house clean, she didn't know what to start with and it didn't matter, as long as she started and so she did. None of the stuff in the house was hers, but it was not like it's original owner was going to need it so she started digging through a few boxes that where standing in a corner to see if there was anything that could be of use to her future stay here. Unfortunately she didn't find anything. It appeared that the people who had lived here had been taken by surprise when the Red Knights came because everything appeared to have been left in a hurry. The dishes weren't clean, a shirt was hanging over the armrest of a chair in the kitchen and a pair of boots stood in the hallway. It was sad to look at and even though Alice tried not to think about what had happened to them, it was hard and all red items reminded her of Iracebeth,

When the night came, she was only completely finished with the livingroom and the bigger bedroom, but that was the only room she needed at the moment since all she wanted was to sleep. It was a tired Alice that crawled down into the sheats that she had temporarily borrowed from Tarrant and soon fell asleep. That night Alice didn't dream. She hadn't had a single dream since she came to Wonderland, which was very strange because she usually had a lot of dreams that never made sense.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been two days since Alice had moved into her new house and since she hadn't had anything better to do, she had spent the time cleaning and decorate her new home. Of course, she didn't have much to decorate it with, although she had managed to find a tablecloth, some drapes and a vase in which she had put some flowers from the forrest. It looked rather cozy now with all the dust gone and broken furniture thrown out. Still, she hadn't seen any of her friends in a few days and hadn't done anything but cleaning and while she was sitting there by the round kitchentable, she felt rather lonely. Then suddenly, a brisk wind went through the room and a familiar face took place in front of her.

"Well how about that! I almost thought people were going mad for real, saying you had returned, but here you are."

Alice was too surprised to say anything at first. She was used to Chessurs sudden entries and exits, but it was hard to believe he'd just appear when she was feeling lonely. Now he was sitting there on the chair opposite her with his usual grin plastered to his face.

"You could at least offer me some tea you know. I had to get up quite early to get here by breakfast and seeing as you're having a cup yourself... it seems rude not to offer."

Surprisingly, that sentence got her mind going again.

"Oh I am sorry! I just didn't expect to see you, not now at least!"

"Just because you don't expect something darling, doesn't mean it won't happen."

"I know, it's just that... never mind. I'll go get you some tea."

"What makes you think I want tea?"

"Well you brought it up, you said it would be rude not to offer."

"It was rude of you not to offer, although I never said I'd like to have some tea, I simply suggested that the most polite thing would be to offer some."

For some reason, Alice almost always seemed to get confused as soon as Chessur opened his mouth and this morning was no exception. His logic was admittedly never questionable, however difficult it was to understand it. This time, maybe the first time, Alice managed to catch up pretty quickly and soon sat down again and asked him if there was anything else he wanted to eat or drink. He simply replied that it wasn't necessary at the time and Alice decided she wouldn't ask again later since he would probably just tease her in some twisted way.

"Anyway, you said you thought people were mad because they said I'd returned, does a lot of people know that I'm back?"

"What people?"

"You know, the ones you have been talking to."

"About what?"

"My return!"

"What return?"

"Ohh you silly cat! I refuse to do this again! I'm not a six-year-old little girl anymore with whom you can just confuse in which way you want for amusement!"

This was something that Alice knew Chessur loved to do and he had done it to her the very first time they'd met in the forrest. Back then she had been looking for the White Rabbit and he had made her forget all about where she was heading. He had helped her in the end anyway, but this sort of behaviour still bothered her a lot. As usual, he just smiled and didn't seem to mind the fact that she was currently really bothered with him.

"Although I did meet with the Queen yesterday and she told me you and Tarrant had been there just the other day."

"We were."

"She also told me she hadn't seen Tarrant in such a... cheery mood for several months."

"... We were both cheery, it was the first time we had seen one another in over a year."

"That might be so, but there's a difference between happy and happy, keep that in mind."

Those were the last words he said before vanishing into thin air with a hiss and there she was, sitting all by herself with a cup of tea. A part of her wanted to shout 'wait' and demand he'd explain what he had meant, but he wouldn't have done that anyways so Alice didn't see a point in raising her voice for nothing. After a few minutes, she for some reason realized Chessur was the only one yet who hadn't greeted her and expressed his happiness over her being in Wonderland. It wasn't really his way to do such a thing, but he could have mentioned something about her unexpected return. Because it had been unexpected. Unless of coure he had in some strange way known that she was going to come back at about this time which was impossible! There was that word again. She almost punished herself for thinking it, because if it was one thing that she had learnt from her time in Wonderland it was that nothing was impossible. Still, if you'd suppose that Chessure knew she would come back that would mean he was either psychic (which was highly, although not entirely unlikely) or he had seen the Oraculum, which would make sense seeing as it was currently in the possession of Mirana and he said he'd been there recently. He had also mentioned Tarrant, just like the Queen... Alice wondered to herself if that was just a coincidence or not, but her thougts were interrupted by a hysterious laughter outside, one that she'd recognize anywhere and so she stood up and ran outside.

"Tweedles!"

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum were walking along the path outside her house, laughing and shoving eachother. When they saw her they smiled even more and started running towards her!

"Alice!"


	9. Chapter 9

The two little boys came running towards her. Alice couldn't help but think it looked a bit amusing, seeing as they in fact were pretty round and she wasn't really used to seeing either of them running. Still, she could contain her laugh because the happiness she got from seeing them was too great and she didn't want spoil the reunion by doing somehing rude.

"Alice! You're actually here!"

"She is, isn't she? Normal size and all!"

Just like she remembered, they finsihed eachothers sentences. It was rather fun to listen to since they somehow always seemed to know exactly what the other one was about to say. Maybe it had something to do with them being twins or something. Either way, Alice didn't really care.

"Yes I am here! It is so nice to see you again!"

"It is nice to see you too! Let's catch up!"

"Actually, let's not. We don't have the time Dum."

"If we'd make time, then we'd have it."

"Yes but now we don't have time to make time."

"We could if we wanted."

"But it's not we who don't want now is it?"

"No but I'm rather certain they wouldn't get upset."

"Oh! Are you?"

This was very much like the Tweedles, arguing about something that pretty much already had an answer. To Alice, it seemed obvious that if you had told someone you'd be with them at a certain time, you'd do best in showing up in time. Especially in Wonderland, where Time itself could get upset if you didn't respect it, and since Alice liked her sleep and wouldn't like to be stuck having breakfast for the rest of the year, she had to interrupt her friends.

"I'm sorry, do you have somewhere to be?"

"Yes."

They answered her both at the same time, something that temporarily confused her before she could continue talking.

"Then I suggest you'd get on your way. There, off you go!"

She pretty much shoved them down the road until they stopped protesting and started walking on by themselves. As they went they shouted back at her about how nice it had been to see her again and waved energeticly at her. Alice couldn't help but smiling at the two silly boys walking away from her. A part of her had wanted them to stay with her and catch up. It had been so nice seeing them again and she still craved company a little, seeing as both their visit and Chessur's had been abnormally short. After a while when she had finished her dishes, she decided to go over to Tarrant's and see if she maybe could persuade him into taking a walk with him. There was still a lot of places and things in Wonderland that she had yet to see and discover and if she was going to stay here for the rest of her life, then she might as well see them. So Alice put on a lighter dress that she had got from the Queen who had thought one dress might not be quite enough for a lifetime. Shoes seemed unnecessary and she didn't like wearing them anyway. Therefore she started walking barefoot down the road towards the Hatter's, dress flowing around her legs.

A few minutes walking, sometimes running, later, Alice arrived at her friend's house where she found him putting a new cloth on his long tea-table. She stood at the gate by the hedge, simply watching him for a while. He seemed so pleased with his new cloth, which he had probably sewn himself, as well as the new green fabric covering his chair. There where several other upgrades that he had made since she was here last time, probably very necessary upgrades. Besides the chair and table cloth, he had cleaned his windows and fixed the spokes on his house and planted new flowers in the flowerbeds. It was all so very colorful and Alice really liked the sight of it. How he had managed to do all of this in the same amount of days she had cleaned her new house she didn't understand. Apparently, Alice had been in her mind for quite a while, because when she came back to reality, Tarrant was standing almost right in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sneak around in the background like that."

"It's quite alright. I was just wondering, what do you think?"

He made a gesture towards the garden with his arm and looked hopefully at her. Alice had already seen the changes he had made, but since he didn't know that and seemed to want her honest opinion, she looked again.

"It looks lovely Tarrant!"

"That's terrific because it's exactly what I was hoping you'd say!"

"Don't tell me you did this for me?"

"Of course not, the place needed a little fixing up and I thought now would be as good a time as any! It's just... I trust what you think!"

Anyone else would probably had said 'I trust your opinion', but since Tarrant wasn't just anyone, it would be silly to assume he would say the same as them. Then Alice remembered why she was there.

"I was going to ask you, would you maybe like to join me for a walk?"

"I'd love to, let's go now! Come on!"

He offered her his arm, she took it and off they went.


	10. Chapter 10

It was really marvellous how many things there were to see in Wonderland, and what was even more amusing was that no thing looked the other alike, ergo: all things seemed to be the only one of it's kind, but Tarrant explained that **that **was certainly not the case! Every plant simply felt like expressing it's own style a bit! It would be strange if they all looked the same, what if all people looked the same! Then you wouldn't know to whom you were speaking and everyone would just get confused. What he said made perfect sense, if you kept yourself from thinking about for too long because if you did, you'd probably realize that it made no sense at all because flowers were flowers and not people! By now, Alice had gotten used to not everything making complete sense, it had become what was normal, in a way. Therefore, she didn't let herself get hung up on the details and simply agreed to what he said before suggesting they'd move on.

After a while, they came to a pond. Alice recognized it as the pond where she had been sitting on Tarrant's hat and he had flunged her across the pond when he heard the Red Knights coming. Then he had got arrested himself and Alice had felt so guilty that she had forced Bayard, the Bloodhound, to take her to Salazen Grum to rescue her friend. Now, the place wasn't quite as gloomy as it once had been. The grass grew green, as well as the leaves in the trees and the water in the pond was clear blue, decorated with water lilies. It was a beautiful scenery and Alice decided to go over to the edge of the hill and sit down. Now that she wasn't so very small, she could actually enjoy the splendid view, that allowed her to see as far as to the White Queen's castle. It was wonderful. Tarrant soon came to join her and sat down next to her.

"It's a wonderful view, isn't it?"

"It truly is. I can't argue with that."

They sat there silently for a while, just looking out across Wonderland. Sometimes, Alice thought, it felt as if all of Wonderland was inside a dome of sorts and that one day you'd hit the glass on the edge. If you looked at the White Queen's catle and beyond, all you could see was a deep forrest and at the back of it, some mountains. Alice wondered if anyone knew what was beyond there. She was just about to ask Tarrant when he spoke before she did.

"Now that you have been staying here for a while... have you had time to... adjust?"

It took a while fore Alice to be sure about what he was asking her. It made perfect sense that he should, seeing as upset she had been when she had first found out about her staying her for the rest of her life.

"Well... it hasn't been easy to accept. I miss my family so very much you see, but I do like my house and it has been great to see my friends here again. And you of course."

"Aren't I part of your friends?"

At that, Alice couldn't help but laugh a little, not because what he had said was wrong, but because it seemed such a silly question.

"Oh Tarrant! Don't you see? You are the reason why I am not completely loosing it right now!"

Now he looked intensly at her for a while. For a moment, Alice actually thought something might be seriously wrong or maybe that she had said something. Just when she was about to as, he started to lift his hand and with some awkwardness, he reached up and gently brushed her cheek. She smiled at him as warmly as she could, so that he'd know that nothing was wrong. When he saw her smile, he seemed to lit up and smiled that special smile that only he could do. It made her happy and warm from the inside and out. She didn't want to spoil the atmosphere by saying anything so instead, she carefully, and very slowly so that he might pull away if he wanted, leaned her head on his shoulder. They like this for some time, not saying a single word. It didn't feel as there were anything that needed to be said. She wondered, like so many times before, what might be going through his head and felt that she had never wanted to know what he was thinking so badly as she wanted it now. Still, she didn't ask. It might just spoil her perfect moment.

Alice didn't know how long they had been sitting there. An hour? Two hours? All she knew was that it had been long enough for the sun to begin setting. Almost simultaneously they reluctantly began to get up. He got on his feet before she did and reached out his hand to help her up. She took it and used it to drag herself to her feet. When she was up, he didn't really seem to want to let go of her hand though. He was sort of just standing there, looking at it. Alice decided to take a little charge and entwined her fingers with his, smiled at him and began to walk back. It felt as anything you might say would be the wrong thing to say and that the other would misinterpret you, so it was best to keep silent.

When they later arrived at Tarrant's house and they realized it was time to part ways, they reluctantly withdrew their hands, but it still didn't feel alright to leave now, Alice thought. If she did, he might think she wasn't keen on him after all. So she stayed. Eventually, after gathering the courage, he leaned foreward and gave her a slight kiss on the cheek.

"Good night, Alice."

"Good night."


	11. Chapter 11

Alice barely slept that night. She lied awake in her bed, well past midnight, thinking about the events of the evening. It felt like a shady dream of some sort and if she fell asleep, she might wake up the next day only to find it had all been a dream. A wonderful dream, but still just that, a dream. But as long as she'd lay awake, it could remain real and she wouldn't have to risk the disappointment of waking up to reality. In the end she did fall asleep, but Alice didn't seem to notice until she woke up that she'd been asleep for any time at all. The sun shone in through her window, warming her face and giving light to the room. With a yawn she sat up on the edge of the bed and streached her arms out. She didn't know what time it was and she didn't really care either, one of the perks of being in Wonderland was that very few people cared about in what time and order things were done. This meant that if she liked, Alice could get out of bed when it was almost time for lunch and have breakfast, before heading out. No one cared if she didn't get up at seven o'clock sharp or didn't have breakfast at a quarter to eight. No one cared if she had breakfast at lunch so that she might have dinner by dinner time. It was all well.

Today however, everything didn't feel quite well. Alice had never spent any time in Wonderland without having a bigger task or challenge to perform. No she found herself without anything to do and it was rather dull. She ate a scone, drank some tea and did her dishes, only to once again sit down by her kitchen table without a single thing to do. She almost started wishing something terrible might happen so that she'd have something to do. There was a slight knock at the door.

"Alice?"

At first when she heard Tarrant's voice outside she dreaded her wish had actually come true and that something terrible had indeed happened, but of course that wasn't the case. When she opened the door, she found him standing out there with a slight smile on his face, hands behind his back.

"Good morning,Tarrant. What brings you here today?"

"Oh not much really, although that depends upon however you wish to see it, you know light, angel all those sorts of things... "

He looked up and realized he wasn't anywhere closer to making his point, or that would seem to be the look. Alice had never seen that face on him before seeing as he always was rather confident in his choice of words. Then he went on.

"Well to be short, I wanted you to be aware I had a terrific time on the evening of yesterday and I was wanting to know if you'd like to consider perhaps going to the Queens picnick today?... With me that is."

"I had a wonderful evening as well, Tarrant. Is the Queen hosting a picnick?"

"Well she did before she was you know overthrown, pushed out... exchanged... but now that she is back in her proper place you see it's back to the ways that it was and so is the picnick."

"I suppose that as an official inhabitant of Underland I am expected to be there and I don't know anyone I'd rather go with. Let's go."

Once again they walked unusually silent next to one-another. Tarrant had reached for Alice's hand after about twenty meters and maybe that had been the thing that had kept them both from saying anything. Not the hand-holding itself, but the fact that neither of them felt like it was the same kind of relation anymore, which it of course wasn't. It was difficult to find new subjects, or to bring up old ones that reminded them of their friendship in the past. Eventually Alice had to say something, she felt it was starting to feel awkward and that was the last thing she wanted. She decided to ask about the other things that were going on in Wonderland, hoping she might find a hobby of some sort, and Tarrant started going through the things that were. This turned out to be a good conversation starter because they were soon chatting about all other things there were to discuss and by the time they arrived at the castle they were in quite the merry mood.

"You came!"

Almost as soon as they had arrived, the Queen came towards them with open arms. She was wearing a dress that Alice never thought she'd see Mirana in. It was still white of course, but it was long and loose with short sleeves that only covered her shoulders. She looked as beautiful as ever but it was still an unusual sight fort Alice. It didn't seem to be as unfamiliar to Tarrant, who temporarily let go of her hand to go and recieve the Queens hug. Alice didn't feel as comfortable hugging the Queen of Underland, but when it was her turn she went ahead and did it anyway. It almost felt rude not to. Fortunately the greetings didn't last long. Pretty soon Tarrant once again grasped her hand an walked off to find a place for them to sit amongst the other people present.

When they had put out a blanket to sit on, Alice got a chance to look around and she realized she'd hit the jackpot of odd people to bump in to whilst in Wonderland. Most of the people present at the picnick didn't seem much more abnormal than herself or Tarrant and there was no one present who were stranger than Chessur. If she just got some kind of connection with these people she might have a chance to connect and feel more at home, Alice thought to herself.


	12. Chapter 12

All in all, Alice had a nice day at the Underland picnic. She had been introduced to the other people on the plain who up close hadn't been as normal as she first had thought they'd be. But since when was anything ever normal in her Wonderland? Some of them were faeries, they were almost the most peculiar ones. Their skin almost always seemed to have a slight shade of another colour: pink, green, blue, purple and even some orange. Their eyes, though more viberantley coloured, matched their skin and they had the sort of pointy ears Alice had only ever read about in fictionary novels. There was also the talking animals, of course, and even some woodnymphs. They were exquisite creatures; slender, but not skinny, and almost every single one of them had a pattern of fauna that seemed to climb on their very skin, each one unique. Of course there were what you might call regular folk at the picnic as well, but somehow they did not seem nearly as interesting as the other creatures, at least not to Alice.

Tarrant seemed to have som kind of relationship with almost everyone, although never a romantic one. Still, everyone loved him and it seemed that there wasn't one person with whom he didn't have a good relationship. By the end of all the greetings, Alice had come to this conclusion: Tarrant was a quarter faerie (on his mothers' side) and this was said to be the reason for his creativity and... vividness, as it was so well phrased. He was an only child if you didn't count the brother who had died when the Red Queen took power, and no one ever did, since the memory of him seemed to pain Tarrant immensely. His best friends were, as Alice already knew, the March Hare and Mallymkun but these were bonds that hand been forged about the same time as his brother died. Before that, he had lived at the White Queens court along with his family and his best friend had been the kitchen boy, who was now the head chef of the royal cuisine. It was all very much to take in and at the end of it Alice almost felt dizzy.

She particularly liked one of the faeries, a girl who was a few years younger than Alice herself, named Kaelie. Her skin was light purple and her eyes were positively violet. When Alice had first introduced herself to the faerie, it seemed like a lot of things in Kaelies life were explained.

"Oh so _you're _the wonder-girl!"

"Have you've heard of me?"

"Well you did end the reign of the Red Queen, so your pretty famous for that. Then there's the fact that Tarrant over there never seems to be able to not speak of you."

Kaelie did a slight gesture to the place where Tarrant was currently standing, conversing with what Alice was pretty sure being a Hippogriff. Half eagle, half lion. She thought she had some slight rememberance of those existing in Underland. Never minding that, she kept to the subject.

"Tarrant talk about me?"

"If he does! Well, I suppose you can't be expected to notice, with not being here a lot and so on. But yes, he talks of you."

They were still looking at him, standing over there by the trees. The Hippogriff made a sound that Alice suspected to be a laugh, before it walked on looking amused. Tarrant turned around with a marry grin on his face. When he noticed they were looking at them he waved happily and Alice couldn't help but smile.

"You know, I've never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you. And believe me, people have tried to seize his attention, but he has always seemed away, off in the clouds somewhere... but not while you are here."

Alice didn't know what to answer. She couldn't deny the fact that she had always cared a little bit more for Tarrant than she did for everyone else in Wonderland. She could also not deny the fact that the idea of him marrying some other girl made her a bit jealous and almost a little angry.

"I've decided to give you a piece of adivice. You may choose to ignore it, but it would make me disappointed if you do. In any case I'm going to tell you this only once, so you'd better listen."

Kaelie had turned herself towards Alice, and she felt those violet eyes almost piercing a whole through her head. Therefore Alice reluctantly turned her gaze from Tarrant and looked her new friend in the eye.

"What is it?"

"I want to tell you that if you ever find yourself somehow back in your own world, you shouldn't seek to come back here. I know you might want to, but let me tell you this. In the past, when you've left - even as a child - Tarrant has put his whole life on hold, waiting for you to come back even though that might never happen. I don't want his life to slip through his fingers, so please, if you plan on leave; do it now. Before he gets even worse. Don't give him hope where there is none."

Alice looked in the grave eyes of her new friend and knew she was completely serious. She thought Alice could hurt Tarrant, even though it might not be something that Alice would ever want to do. Reassuringly, she placed her hand on Kaelies shoulder.

"I promise I'm not stringing him along. I'm not planning on leaving and I wouldn't ever hurt him, not purposely anyway. You must care for him very much since you're telling me this. How long have you known him?"

"He has been my friend since I was a little girl and he's always been kind to my people. That's why it makes me happy to hear that you won't hurt him, because I believe you can make him happy, truly. And he needs that, true happiness, not just pretend and fooling around."

"Don't we all?"


	13. Chapter 13

It had been just about a month and a half now since Alice had her conversation with Kaelie and no way of getting out of Wonderland had yet revealed itself. For about the first two weeks Alice had searched for a way to get home, but she had soon begun to realize that there actually was none and that Underland was her home permanently now. It hadn't been too difficult to adjust, after all, Wonderland had many perks. For one thing you didn't have to wear a corset or anything like that and you didn't necessarily have to eat according to the proper etiquette. Everything was much simpler.

She had been spending a lot of time with her friends too. The rabbit she had always referred to as 'The March Hare' she soon found out wasn't called that at all, his real name was Thackery Earwicket, but he preferred to simply be called Thack. The Tweedles appeared at her front door once or twice as well and she had invited them in for tea. Alice never really did know what exactly to do with the Tweedles. They were too old to play games and you never seemed to be able to have any real kind of conversation with them: they just kept arguing with one another about something of which they where already in agreement, they just didn't see it. And then there was Tarrant. Their relationship was evolving slowly until something a lot different than what they had before, but it still wasn't unfamiliar. It felt about as natural as watching a flower grow or watching the stream flow into a pond. At first the romance had been contained to hand-holding and maybe a slight peck on the cheek every once in a while, but soon it had grown into affectionate hugs and leaning on one another while sitting down. The first real kiss hadn't happened until two months had past and it had been a little awkward in a way, but still sweet. Alice were glad things weren't moving forward any faster, it was difficult enough turning friendship into love and when both were almost completely inexperienced it was even more so.

Chirstmas had come and gone in Alice's first year in Wonderland when Tarrant, a bit gawky, had asked Alice to marry him. It was a big step, she knew that. It would mean total renouncement of her life in England and still, she didn't see how she could answer anything but yes. Yes, yes, yes! She loved him, after all, so very much and did want to spend the rest of her life with him. Besides, she couldn't spend her life looking for something she might never see again. Searching for old roots instead of growing new ones. Maybe this was just what she needed. Therefore the invitations went out.

_You are here by invited to the union of_

_Alice Kingsley &amp; Tarrant Hightopp_

_The ceremony will be held at _

_Palace Marmoreal _

_on the benevelance of her majesty_

_The White Queen_

Mirana had let them use the palace and it's gardens for the celebrations, she said it was because they were old friends, but Alice suspected it was simply because she wanted a front row seat. Why this was all such a big deal for the Queen, Alice didn't know, but she wasn't about to complain. The rooms of Marmoreal were gorgeous and she did want a fairytale wedding to compensate the fact that her mother wouldn't be able to attend. There was a slight problem with the dress though, Tarrant was after all the best when it came to sewing and so it took a rather long time before they could find someone else who'd be able to do the same things he did. There were no priests in Wonderland, for some reason, nobody seemed to have any kind of religion, so the marrige would be a, what in England would have been called, civil marriage. Not that Alice minded, she had never really believed much in God anyway.

* * *

When the day of the wedding came, Alice stood in one of the rooms at Palace Marmoreal, surrounded by the Queens maids who were trying to make her look like as beautiful as possible. Her hair had been put up, although admittedly against her own protests, and decorated with a few white roses and pearls. Needles were being pushed in all the wrong places and she thought for herself that it had been years since she felt this uncomfortable. Still, she didn't protest. She knew Mirana had sent them there out of kindness and that she was now in a shortage of maids. Well, Alice didn't quite see it as a shortage, Mirana still had four maids, but it was certainly less than what the queen was used to. In the end, it was all worth feeling uncomfortable though, because when she was finally allowed to see herself in the mirror, the girl standing in front of her was the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen. In fact, she wasn't even really sure that it was herself that she was looking at. That's how good a job the maids had done.

Walking down the aisle felt like hourse, even though it was only about 20 meters long. Her heart was pouding so hard she felt almost certain that everyone else could see it. The Queen had agreed to give her away and to make sure she didn't fall, Alice grasped her arm even more tightly. It must have hurt, but if it did, Mirana showed no sign of it. That was a good thing. Alice looked up at her fioncé. He was smiling happily at her and as if the pounding wasn't enough, it made her heart skip a beat. This was the beginning of something good. Something new. It was all nonsense of course, that she was marrying a hatter, more commonly known as the _mad_ hatter. That she was going to spend the rest of her life in a land called Underland, or Wonderland to her. That there were such things as faeries and nymphs and talking animals! It was all nonsense! But still, it was exactly what she wanted...

"_If I had a world of my own,_

_everything would be nonsense._

_Nothing would be what it is,_

_because everything would be what it isn't._

_And contrary wise, what it is,_

_it wouldn't be and what it wouldn't be,_

_it would. You see?"_

_\- Lewis Carroll_


End file.
